The tone for Reavis’ 41-12 rout of Argo on Sept. 20 in Burbank was set early. As in Argo’s first punt.
Axel Samaniego booted it 28 yards under heavy pressure, and Nick Pryor returned it 35 yards for a touchdown 1:45 into the game. The Rams were off and running — and passing — and recovering.
Thanks to a fumble-recovery touchdown by Reavis linebacker Skylar O’Neill on the next series, it was 14-0 before the Rams’ offense took the field.
“He flies to the ball every single play, no plays off,” fellow defender Jacob Gustafson said of O’Neill. “I can trust in him.”
“We’ve been playing together since first grade,” O’Neill said of Gustafson. “The chemistry’s just there. Up 14-0 on defense, that killed their mood.”
Pryor said a switch to “punt-safe” from a punt-block alignment set up his opening score, the first of six Reavis touchdowns in less than 18 minutes.
It was 41-0 when Gustafson blocked a Samaniego punt and fell on it in the end zone with 4:39 left in the half, triggering a second-half running clock that allowed Reavis students more time to dress up for the evening’s homecoming dance.
The outcome improved Reavis to 3-1, 1-1 in the South Suburban Red. Argo has opened 0-4, 0-2 after three straight playoff appearances.
“We saw a nice improvement from Week 2 to Week 3, but obviously a drop to Week 4,” Argo coach Phillip Rossberg said. “Reavis, they executed and we did not.”
Reavis’ offense wasn’t spectacular, but didn’t have to be. Rushing touchdowns by Parker Zasada and Nehemiah Rogers and a 4-yard passing collaboration between quarterback Dardan Negri and Zasada accounted for the Rams’ three offensive touchdowns. They had a 98-36 yardage advantage on Argo at the half.
“It makes my job as offensive coordinator easy,” Reavis coach Tim Zasada said. “Our defensive coordinator, Pete Gabel, is phenomenal. He’s done a great job with defense and punt block.”
Argo, which picked up a pair of second-half rushing touchdowns from Skylar Arellano-Phipps, now has to pick up the pieces.
“The defensive scores, punts blocked, you’re not going to win with that,” Rossberg said. “That kind of deflated our kids right away. You always try to pick ’em up, play for the guy next to you — all that stuff — but the wind was out of the sails and never filled back up.”